Richard John Cousins (29 March 1959 – 31 December 2017) was a British businessman, and the chief executive officer of the world's largest foodservice company, the Compass Group, based in Chertsey, Surrey.[1]
Early life[edit]
Richard Cousins was born on 29 March 1959 in Leeds.[2] He was the son of Marian and Philip Cousins.[2]
Cousins was educated at The Brakenhale School, a comprehensive school in Bracknell, Berkshire. [3] He earned a bachelor's degree in mathematics from the University of Sheffieldin 1980, followed by a master's degree in operational research from Lancaster University Management School.[2]
Cousins began in the group operational research department of Cadbury-Schweppes in 1981,[2] being involved in market research and investment projects. In 1984 he joined BTR Industries,[2] again in operational research. He became corporate planning manager forNewey and Eyre (now part of Hagemeyer UK),[2] one of its subsidiaries and an electrical components firm. In 1990 he moved to BPB plc, the British firm which is the world's largest manufacturer of plasterboard and now owned by the French company Saint-Gobain, working in planning.[citation needed]
From 1996 to 1998, Cousins was managing director of its Abertay Paper Sacks company atBucksburn in Aberdeen.[citation needed] He became a group financial controller and president of the Canadian section of the business in 1998 before becoming chief executive in 2000. Under his leadership, he took the company into the FTSE 100, which transformed itsmarket capitalization from £1bn to around £4bn. He sold BPB to Saint-Gobain for £3.9bn in December 2005, after a hostile takeover.[citation needed]
Cousins joined Compass in May 2006 as CEO, taking over from Mike Bailey. In April 2011 he gave the Arena Savoy Lecture at London's Savoy Hotel.[citation needed]
In 2017, Cousins was named #11 on the 2017 100 Best Performing CEOs in the World by Harvard Business Review.[4]
He is succeeded as CEO of Compass by Dominic Blakemore. Originally planned for 1 April 2018 the succession was brought forward to 1 January 2018.[5]
Personal life[edit]
Cousins married Caroline Thorpe in 1982; she died of cancer in 2015.[6][2] Their two sons were William and Edward, both of whom died with their father.[2] They resided in theChilterns.[7]
Cousins was killed on 31 December 2017 when the light aircraft he was on crashed into theHawkesbury River in Australia near Cowan, north of Sydney. His two sons, William Cousins (25) and Edward Cousins (23), his fiancée Emma Bowden (48) and her daughter Heather Bowden (11) as well as pilot Gareth Morgan, were also killed in the accident.[8]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Cousins
